Reece Cole and Zain Westbrooke return to Jersey Road

Brentford B midfield player Reece Cole is back in West London for treatment on an injury that will cut short a loan deal with Sky Bet League Two Newport County.

The 19-year-old signed for the South Wales club in early August and was due to stay with them until the start of 2018. But Reece is now back with The Bees after picking up a knee injury that means he is unavailable for selection for the League Two side.

Reece made his professional debut in Brentford’s Sky Bet Championship win over Nottingham Forest last season and was involved in First Team pre-season friendlies this summer. He scored in wins over Aldershot Town and Oxford United and also played in the draw against Southampton at Griffin Park. He played five games for Newport, scoring the winner on his debut against Coventry City. Due to transfer regulations the loan cannot officially be ended but Reece will undergo his rehabilitation with Brentford rather than returning to Newport.

Rob Rowan, Brentford FC Head of Football Operations, said: "The staff and I are disappointed for Reece. Going on loan to Newport was the next stage in his development and he was enjoying the whole experience up until now. I had a good discussion with Mike Flynn, Newport Manager, just over a week ago and he was really happy with Reece and could see the same qualities within him that we could. Therefore, it is disappointing that an injury has led to the end of his loan before he could gain further experience.

"Reece has a strong personality and will not be distracted by this minor setback at all. The technical staff had a meeting with him today to discuss areas that we want him to work on whilst injured via off feet conditioning sessions. He has been set some objectives by the technical staff during his rehabilitation and it’s important his focus is now on achieving them before hopefully being back to training in mid-December."

B Team captain Zain Westbrooke has also returned to West London after his loan spell with National League side Solihull Moors came to an end. The 20-year-old was limited to just two appearances in the West Midlands after being sent-off on his second outing for the club.

Rob said: “Zain was extremely unlucky to be honest. The staff and I watched his first start against Chester and agreed that he was having a great match up until the red card. Zain had never had a red card before in his career and it’s just unfortunate that his first came on his first start in the National League. The suspension took him up until the end of his loan period and, understandably, Solihull had to get loan players in to cover the void when Zain was missing and now don’t have space to renew the loan.

"The plan moving forward is to get Zain another move to the National League. His performance for them and performances for the B Team show that he can play at that level, or above, especially as it was only four months ago that he was making his debut in the Championship for Brentford."